Thursday, October 28, 2010

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! (share your post in the Mr. Linky below)

Happy Halloween from Cat Thursday!

Pumpkin brain-eating Zombie cats! LOL is all I have to say about this one. =OD

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

I really enjoyed this book. It was a relatively short read and entertaining. Reading Call Me Kate took me back to the days of my girlhood when I read the Little House books and Anne of Green Gables. Katie McCafferty is exactly the type of heroine in the tradition of Laura Ingalls and Anne Shirley. A young girl with a lot of spunk and character who cares deeply about others. The plot of the book includes an important historical event, the forcing of Irish mine workers into the draft to fight in the Civil War. Most of these men were mine workers and the main breadwinners in their families. To leave to fight in the war would mean devastation for their families. The Irish who were opposed to the draft were referred to as Molly Maguires and were blamed for many bad deeds, including voter fraud, draft riots, violence at the mines and even murder. Katie is a fictional character who finds herself in the midst of all the political strife and finds a way to stop potential bloodshed, at least temporarily. Ms. Roe has written a wonderful story for tweens and young adults who are fans of great stories with strong heroines and important historical events.

Side note: This was the first ebook I read on my Sony Reader and I have to say that I really enjoyed the experience. While I still will always be loyal to print books, I will still enjoy free reads on my Reader!

Fourteen-year-old Katie McCafferty risks job, family, and eventually her very life to rescue a lifelong friend. Disguised as a draft resister, Katie infiltrates a secret Irish organization to prevent bloodshed. Tragedies challenge her strength and ingenuity, and she faces a crisis of conscience. Can Katie balance her sense of justice with the law?

Call Me Kate is suitable for readers from eleven to adult. The story is dramatic and adventuresome, yet expressive of daily life in the patches of the hard coal region during the Civil War era. This novel will appeal to readers of the Dear America series, as well as more mature readers who will enjoy the story’s rich context and drama.

"Call Me Kate is a fascinating look at the time period of the early drafts for the Civil War. It focuses on a specific area of the country and the conflict that arose among the different classes and ethnicities. I got a brief history lesson on a time period that I wasn’t very familiar with. For anyone interested in getting some history with their fiction, Call Me Kate is a good book to add to your choices." - TeensReadToo.com

" The politics of the time, the history of how hard the struggle was for many poor families, is absolutely inspirational. The writer did a wonderful job bringing us back to the past, and making us understand that bigotry – in any form – can only harm. I am always so thankful when a writer comes out with a story that teaches something more than “unrequited love with a supernatural being.” Don’t get me wrong, those are fun, too. But this is a great story that will teach something and be fun at the same time." - BookPleasures.com

Thanks to Nicole at Tribute Books for allowing me to read this book and participate in the tour.

This weekly feature is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.
I am so swamped with books to read, I don't know if I'm coming or going! And I'm still so behind...I have never completely caught up since my long illness over the summer. Anyway, I am getting a lot of reading done because I'm reading so much right now so that's a plus anyway. I'm about ten reviews behind and I need to get caught up before I start NaNoWriMo next week. I'm going to take a cue from Martha at Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf and only give my Goodreads rating and a short thought or two on books from my TBR list, at least until I catch up on review books. Review books will have a full review, of course.

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex (I am ALMOST finished!)Orlando by Virginia Woolf (reading for Literature by Women book club on Barnes & Noble...may not finish because I'm SO behind in the reading!)

To be read:

Call Me Kate: Meeting the Molly Maguires by Molly Roe (have to read this one tomorrow as I'm up for a blog tour on Tuesday) on my Sony ReaderThe Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (have to have read by Tuesday night at 10:30 ET for TuesBookTalk on Twitter)The Sixth Surrender by Hana Samek Norton (this one is for a book tour for Crazy Book Tours...have to have finished and mailed by Wednesday)

Book Club Reads for November (so far):The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (for Reading with Tequila book club on Goodreads)Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (for Literature by Women on Barnes & Noble)

November Must-Read:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (before movie comes out on November 19th!)

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Yes, I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year...but this time I'm going to finish, come hell or high water! I will be posting updates and word counts on my writing blog, The Story Inside Me. Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? Visit me HERE on the site and buddy up with me (user name: thetruebookaddict)! Wish me luck and good luck to all the participants!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! (share your post in the Mr. Linky below)

Even our Alice can be scary. Well, maybe not scary, but perhaps a little menacing! Awww, who am I kidding...she's adorable! =O)

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Well, I didn't end up going to the library sale on Saturday after all. Why? Because they had the wrong date printed on the flyer and when I double-checked online (and called, for good measure), they said it is this Saturday. I don't mind though...something to look forward to!

(Click book titles for book descriptions at Goodreads)

In the mail:

Won:

A Comic-Con San Diego prize pack from Amy at My Friend Amy which includes:

Monday, October 18, 2010

To wrap-up the Halloween Read-A-Thon....I managed to read one book...not too shabby considering I was extremely busy this weekend with birthday related activities.

I read:

The Wedding Gift by Kathleen McKenna (will have review up soon)

Reece did really good. He ended up throwing several Christmas books in the mix. Yeah, he's a Christmas fanatic, like me!

He read:

Boris and Bella by Carolyn CrimiSleepy Hollow Sleepover by Ron Roy (A to Z Mysteries)...One chapterIf You Take A Mouse To The Movies by Laura NumeroffThe Little Snowflake by Steve MetzgerMrs. Claus takes a Vacation by Linas AlsenasThe Abominable Snow Teacher by Lisa Passen

I also participated in a few mini-challenges and attended the fun Twitter party last night. As usual, the read-a-thon was A LOT of fun! Looking forward to the next one (hoping for one...LOL)! Thanks again to Lesley at Young Adult Books Reviewed for hosting.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

I had a really busy weekend so I didn't have much of a chance to participate in the read-a-thon. My birthday was Friday so I was pretty busy doing birthday related stuff...you know how it is! I did finish The Wedding Gift by Kathleen McKenna. I'm planning on trying to finish Dracula in Love by Karen Essex and Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I think the read-a-thon ends at midnight, but I might keep reading...pull an all-nighter. The kids are on Fall break so I don't have to get up early in the morning!

I'm going to do all the mini-challenges in one post.

The first mini-challenge is from Jami at YA Addict and it is to share a book that scared the crap out of us. This is an easy one for me.

It is Hell House by Richard Matheson:

Rolf Rudolph Deutsch is going die. But when Deutsch, a wealthy magazine and newpaper publisher, starts thinking seriously about his impending death, he offers to pay a physicist and two mediums, one physical and one mental, $100,000 each to establish the facts of life after death.

Dr. Lionel Barrett, the physicist, accompanied by the mediums, travel to the Belasco House in Maine, which has been abandoned and sealed since 1949 after a decade of drug addiction, alcoholism, and debauchery. For one night, Barrett and his colleagues investigate the Belasco House and learn exactly why the townfolks refer to it as the Hell House.

I was in my late thirties when I read this, but, despite my age, I still get scared...like a little girl! This book is scary in a creepy, subtle way. It had me jumpy and listening to the quiet for noises. There is also a movie from the seventies...I think it's called The Legend of Hell House. It was pretty creepy, but the book was much better, of course!

The next mini-challenge is hosted by Gaby at Oh My Books! and it is to share the costume we're wearing for Halloween or, if we're not dressing up, what we would like to wear if we were.

I've been on an Eleanor of Aquitaine kick lately so I would pick something like this (in plus size, of course)...I had to really search for one with a wimpole!

From the award-winning translators of Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov comes this magnificent new translation of Tolstoy's masterwork.
War and Peace broadly focuses on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the most well-known characters in literature...

A century before A GAME OF THRONES, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros…
A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS compiles the first three official prequel novellas to George R.R. Martin’s ongoing masterwork, A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE.

TBR PILE (the tip of the iceberg)

If books could have more, give more, be more, show more, they would still need readers who bring to them sound and smell and light and all the rest that can’t be in books.The book needs you.~Gary Paulsen

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Favorite Authors

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Which Jane Austen heroine are you?

Which literary heroine are you?

You are Josephine March from "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott. Opinionated and outspoken, your bold nature can sometimes get you into trouble. You must constantly make a conscious decision to seem gentler to people when you first meet them -- those who do not know you well can sometimes find your passion abrasive or overly aggressive. The happiness of others is your greatest source for happiness of your own -- you want nothing more than to provide for your family and friends, to make them happy.

Which Downton Abbey Character Am I?

You are Lady Sybil Crawley. The youngest daughter of Lord Grantham, you’re compassionate, strong, and really concerned about social justice. You’d also like to be able to vote. The bravest and most idealistic member of your family, you’re the most likely to end up at a political rally, try and help a servant to a better job, or scandalize your sisters by wearing pants to a party.

Which historical person are you most like?

You are Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni people and fiery leader of an uprising against the Romans in England. You don’t turn away from a fight. In fact, you go looking for one if someone tries to tell you what to do. You’re a natural leader, a vicious opponent, and you look great swinging a sword.

Who would I be in 1400 AD?

Your result for The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test...

The Knight

You scored 34% Cardinal, 44% Monk, 38% Lady, and 57% Knight!

You are the hero. Brave and bold. You are strong and utterly selfless. You are also a pawn to your superiors and will be lucky if you live very long. If you survive the Holy wars you are thrust into you will be praised for your valor and opportunities both romantic and financial will become available to you.

Which classic dame am I?

Your result for The Classic Dames Test...

Katharine Hepburn

You scored 21% grit, 24% wit, 52% flair, and 19% class!

You are the fabulously quirky and independent woman of character. You go your own way, follow your own drummer, take your own lead. You stand head and shoulders next to your partner, but you are perfectly willing and able to stand alone. Others might be more classically beautiful or conventionally woman-like, but you possess a more fundamental common sense and off-kilter charm, making interesting men fall at your feet. You can pick them up or leave them there as you see fit. You share the screen with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant, thinking men who like strong women.

The sorting hat says...

SOME OF THE BOOKS I HAVE READ

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I do not accept payment in exchange for a review or for the mention of a book unless otherwise noted. My thoughts and opinions expressed in reviews on this site are in no way influenced by receipt of free review copies from authors, publishers, publicists, or book tour companies.